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Magazine Article

Sony has once again stepped out of the box in its search for
markets for the Sony PictureStation by placing test units in four
New Jersey stores of the Michaels Arts & Crafts chain,
PTN has learned.

A Sony spokesman would not comment on the report.

PictureStation units, PTN learned, would be placed in
four of the larger stores in the chain: Holmdel, Freehold,
Princeton, and Bridgewater. These are all upscale communities in
New Jersey. Installation was scheduled for June but had not been
completed by this writing

Michaels is a major retailer of picture frames and an aggressive
promoter of scrapbooking and it is no doubt looking for additional
ways to build traffic and sales for those departments. Having a
nearby kiosk to take consumers' digital flash media and turn them
into prints immediately could be a good companion for those
sections.

The PictureStation being installed will have all the Sony bells
and whistles including a scanner for print-to-print and three
dye-sub printers for 4x, 5x, and 8x print output. List price for
the system is about $14,000.

It was also learned that Michaels had tested other brand kiosks
in the past and were unhappy with the results.

Michaels Stores, Inc., based in Irving, Texas, owns over 800
Michaels stores in the U.S. and Canada, and another 158 Aaron
Brothers stores on the West Coast.

With this test, Sony once again has reached outside the photo
industry to look for placement opportunities for its
PictureStation. Almost two years ago they captured the Kinkos
account from the Kodak Picture Maker and have so far placed kiosks
in over 900 Kinkos locations-some with two systems. Also, the 7-11
convenience chain has had the PictureStation on test at five Texas
locations since the winter but has not yet decided on whether to
expand the program.